"it is not a fallacy to bring in personal details which raise legitimate questions about the credibility of what's being said.
Snowden did have a difficult time in HS and he does not possess a formal CS/technical education."
Having worked decades in the IT industry, my experience shows that formal education rarely makes a positive contribution to a person's skills or credibility. I could be biased though, I'm self taught.
I've always felt my degree gave me a good grounding over a wide area.
I've worked with people with and without degrees. Some of the best had no degree, some had PhDs, some had a standard BSc. Some of the worst were in all three categories too.
But I have found my degree useful, and not just for opening doors.
That makes sense. Hopefully my comment doesn't sound like I think people with degrees are worse. My point was that I feel it comes down to the person and not the source of their education.
If anything this means the person didn't want to fit in the mold.
I shall remind that school first and primary purpose when it has been created was to format and mold people so that they would be more uniformized and easier to control.
Self-taught people, misfits (regardless of how that sounds like), etc. tend to think for themselves, be more creative and more critical.
Obviously,someone who's willing to risk his and his family life to testify against what he believe is wrong as such a high level is predisposed to have at least some similar past.
but then again, we do derive from the point, thus, yes,smearing works.
Having worked decades in the IT industry, my experience shows that formal education rarely makes a positive contribution to a person's skills or credibility. I could be biased though, I'm self taught.